TTUHSC Identity Guidelines

Typography

Skip to: Charter | Helvetica Neue

Charter

Back to Top

In keeping with the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center caregiver persona and the key concept of fostering success, we chose a highly readable typeface, Charter, to represent our primary voice. A derivative of a traditional Roman face, Charter's design also reinforces the same classical associations we recognize in our campus architecture, forms that evoke a sense of history, integrity and trust. The typeface was created by Matthew Carter with the limitations of digital output devices in mind; hence the squared serifs and lack of excessive diagonals and curves. It's a highly versatile typeface that's appropriate for a variety of applications from the formal to the casual. The larger size of the lower case characters adds to its readability and makes it a very welcoming face.

Headlines

Our primary headline presentation should be Charter in the Roman weight in caps and lowercase to create a more friendly conversational style. This treatment should be used in the vast majority of situations. There will be occasions when a more formal style may be appropriate, such as in titling treatments on invitations or certificates where either caps or large and small caps may be considered. We've also included the italic weight as a component of our unique logotype treatments and the bold weight for limited use on business cards, letterhead and when additional hierarchies are required. The italic should generally not be used within headlines. It is primarily reserved for supporting text treatments or quotations.

Body text

The Roman weight of Charter is also the primary typeface for body copy in the majority of marketing applications. Helvetica Neue condensed may be used in dense, information-based publications such as course schedules and catalogs where content volume and space efficiencies are the priority.

Color

We often present large major headlines in gray to soften our voice somewhat. This creates an approachable voice when we want to reinforce the open and friendly nature of our university community while still maintaining a strong conversational style. Black and red may also be used when a more declarative voice is appropriate, such as in promotional or direct marketing materials, or in documentation where you may need to differentiate multiple information hierarchies through size, weight, style and color.

Ordering Charter

We're using the PostScript Type 1 version of Charter from Bitstream's subsidiary, MyFonts. The only faces being used are:

Charter
Charter Italic
Charter Bold

These are available from two sets - Charter ($99) and Charter Bold ($49.50). Each license covers five computers. All of the purchase options are available here.

Although there are other weights and styles within these packages, only the fonts listed here are acceptable for use within the Texas Tech Identity Guidelines.

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center marketing and communication professionals and their partners must always use our branded typefaces, Charter and Helvetica Neue, when designing and producing advertising and design solutions.

Substituting Times New Roman for Charter in presentations and correspondence.

When you're developing presentations in Microsoft® PowerPoint or correspondence in Microsoft® Word, we allow for the substitution for Charter fonts with Times New Roman fonts in comparable styles and weights due to its universal availability in Microsoft® Office® applications. Do not develop digital documents of any kind for general or email distribution that are dependent upon Charter fonts being installed on your audience's computers.

Helvetica Neue

Back to Top

Helvetica Neue, pronounced "noy" and meaning "new" in German, is our secondary typeface. We'll pronounce "new" when speaking of the typeface to make it easy to remember.

Helvetica Neue's exceptional flexibility and readability at smaller sizes makes it an ideal complement to Charter and best supports the expressive qualities of our identity. It is available in a wide range of styles and weights and is one of the most versatile and widely used typefaces in the world, with numerous languages and character sets. It is the definitive sans serif font, with a classic neutrality that allows it to be used for all types of communication.

The Helvetica Neue styles and weights seen on this page are the fonts we've specifically selected from the larger family for the new Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center typography standards.

Major and minor subheads, captions and lists.

Helvetica Neue 77 Bold Condensed is used for both major and minor subheads within our primary body copy sections. It should also be used in charts, graphs, tables and other information graphics where space efficiency and readability are critical requirements – along with Helvetica Neue 57 Condensed and the select group of Helvetica Neue fonts we've listed here. The Helvetica Neue family is also the preferred choice when presenting lists or other dense content such as course schedules and catalogs. It also may be used for body copy in documentation.

Color

Helvetica Neue may be presented in red, black or gray, depending on how it best supports and complements our primary typeface Charter or other Helvetica Neue type presentations. In this guide you'll find numerous examples of combining color, size, weight and style to create clear and concise information hierarchies using our signature fonts.

Ordering Helvetica Neue

We're using the PostScript version, available from MyFonts.com. Each license covers five computers. All of the purchase options are available here.

Although other weights and styles are availalbe in the Neue family, only the fonts listed here are acceptable for use within the Texas Tech Identity Guidelines.

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center marketing and communication professionals and their partners must always use our branded typefaces, Charter and Helvetica Neue when designing and producing advertising and design solutions.

Substituting Arial for Helvetica Neue in Correspondence and presentations.

When you're developing presentations in Microsoft® PowerPoint or correspondence in Microsoft® Word, we allow for the substitution of Helvetica Neue fonts with Arial fonts in comparable styles and weights due to its universal availability in Microsoft® Office® applications. Do not develop digital documents of any kind for general distribution that are dependent upon Helvetica Neue fonts being installed on your audience's computers.